The Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) announced an
initiative to examine the various technology models supporting mobile
payments today and to make recommendations on an approach that would
facilitate an interoperable mobile payments infrastructure in the future.
More than 25 organizations from banking, wireless carriers and
technology providers are participating to provide a broad view of the
current environment and best practices. Other organizations are
encouraged to join. The initiative is sponsored by The Federal Reserve
Bank of Boston and The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C. as well as
the American Bankers Association, BITS Financial Services Roundtable,
NACHA—The Electronic Payments Association, and
PaymentsNation. The FSTC has engaged KPMG to provide project management.
“We’re evaluating
what’s out there today to see where there are
common practices and differences,” said Jim
Pitts, FSTC Managing Executive of Payments. “We’ll
use our findings to develop an interoperable model for all mobile
payments participants.”
Interoperability is essential to realize the promise of mobile payments,
which is for a customer to be able to make a payment from any bank, on
any mobile phone, using any carrier.
“Many banks, wireless networks, handset
manufacturers are involved in pilots or early roll-outs, which provides
a rich source of information,” said Pitts. “However,
at some point, the systems will have to work well together for mobile
payments to succeed as a major payments channel.”
“This initiative will play an important role
in identifying and documenting the technology that will enable banks to
meet growing customer demand for mobile payments,” said Janey A. Place, Ph.D., CEO of DigitalThinking, a business strategy,
technology, innovation and payment systems consulting company. “Open
and efficient communications networks have created significant benefits
for consumers, commerce and the national economy.”
The group expects to recommend a preferred technology standard for
interoperability by year’s end.
About FSTC
FSTC brings together diverse, and often competitive financial
institutions, industry service providers, government agencies and others
to collaborate and find solutions to key industry challenges. Project
topics come from member financial institution and are driven by
participating members with the support of FSTC staff.